Marry me a little
by idioticonion
Summary: A little ways down the road. Robin is leaving New York - is it too late for her and Barney? Spoilers for 6.24 Challenge Accepted.


"You need to marry somebody. Not some _body_."  
>- Amy, Sondheim's Company<p>

Rain beats down on the window and Robin chokes back tears, stupid tears, tears that she has no time for. She packs her things, quickly and efficiently – a few clothes, a few treasured personal trinkets, she's really gotten this down to a fine art in the last two years. Foreign assignments used to mean everything to her because they were new and exciting, but then all the travelling just got so exhausting until all she wanted was to stay in one place.

Only... not if that place was just New York. _Just_ New York - Jeez, like Manhattan could ever be as boring or lonely or frustrating as living anywhere without her best friends around her (without _him_around her). Barney always said "when you go to Morocco, Scherbatsky," or, "one day you'll end up in Morocco," like it was code for the day she did this, for the day she left. Morocco... she's pretty sure he's got no idea where Morocco even is. Maybe he does, but it would be just like him never to admit to it.

Maybe he'd pretend that it's in France. Or, like, in Russia.

But it hurts her that when the call came in, when she finally got her chance to go for this assignment in Greece, Barney never even came around to congratulate her. Barney, her best friend of seven years (_and some change_) – he was too chicken-shit to come and man up, to come and tell her she wasn't making the biggest mistake of her life.

She drags her suitcase from the bed, her anger lending her strength, making her movements wild and ungainly so that she almost hurls it across the room.

Barney's a coward, she's always known that.

Except that he isn't. Not now. He hasn't been for a while. Slowly and surely, week by week, month by month, he's been taking chances. While she's been surviving on one night stands, he's been dating, _really_dating, been developing, been blossoming into a guy she barely even recognises.

And yet he's still _Barney_. Deep inside, he's still _her_Barney. He's still crass and rude and ridiculous and brave and funny and so, so strong. And every time she goes away for a couple of days or a couple of weeks, she comes back and he's stronger. Braver. More ridiculous.

Every time she comes back, she falls a little bit in love with him all over again.

Except that she can never tell him. Good god, she broke his heart once, she sees that now. And she still doesn't know what she wants (_except that she does, she wants him_) and she still wants her freedom and _love _even though she suspects the two are mutually exclusive.

And she still lies awake in strange places, in uncomfortable beds, with unfamiliar food settling in her stomach and she still thinks of him.

His smile. His eyes. His fingers, trailing wonderingly across her collarbone, her hip, her breast.

Robin still fears that she'll never make that connection with anyone else.

And so she doesn't cry, she won't cry, she'll leave and live in Athens and eat moussaka and stay away for a year (_and a day_) and never call him, never email him, never have to see his stupid face.

Ted hugs her while she waits inside for the cab to take her to the airport. "I can't do this," she says through gritted teeth. "I can't go and not say goodbye."

Ted just smiles. It's not like he hasn't noticed how their relationship has evolved, how the two of them have become inseparable over the years.

Thick as thieves.

"Then don't," Ted says, pushing her cellphone into her palm.

She can't swallow, her throat is so dry, she hardly knows how she'll make the words as her finger brushes over the screen, over the letters of his name.

"Robin."

It's weird how she hears his voice, before she's even made the call. It takes her a beat to realise that's because he's standing behind her.

Ted fades into the background, subtly, knowing that he's superfluous to requirements right now.

"Robin," Barney says again, and she feels his arms around her, feels him turn her around.

His eyes shine, but his face is serious. So serious. Ridiculous, brave, strong Barney, looking so serious. It's stupid, because stupid Robin is going to stupid Greece and she'll never see his face, never hear his voice, not for a year and a day.

"Marry me," she squeaks, and her voice sounds wrong. Everything sounds wrong. What is she saying?

"Sorry- what?"

Robin clears her throat. "Please, Barney. Marry me. Let's get married?"

He blinks a couple of times. "Err."

Oh god, she's about to cry and she swore she wasn't going to cry. "Oh god," she says out loud, and she tries to curl away from him, so mortified, so humiliated.

"No, no, no!" He says, manhandling her upright. "I mean, that's not a 'no', I just- god, you took me by surprise! And you're moving away! And… do you really mean it?"

"Why not? Come with me. Your job is stupid anyway. What do you even do? You can do mysterious things in any country in the world. Hell, the Greeks probably invented mysterious jobs. They invented everything else." She knows what she's doing of course, throwing open a challenge, the same challenge she gave Ted all those years ago. She's saying - follow me, or lose me.

Only Barney's not Ted. He's brave and he's strong and he's ridiculous.

And she's scared. And she loves him.

"Why not?" He laughs. "Let's get married."

"But I'm moving to Greece," she stutters. "Today."

He narrows his eyes. "Good point. Okay, so… let's get married?"

"You're not making sense."

He grins. "You just asked me to marry you, dude. You expect me to make sense?"

"Let's go to Vegas!" She's clutching at straws now, she really doesn't know what she's saying. She feels heady, weird, like she's drunk, or high, or something. It's like a dream, only his arms are solid around her and he's looking at her like she's having a nervous breakdown or a panic attack and it's like she's suffocating.

Then he cups her cheek, and the air rushes back into her lungs and his mouth covers hers, lips firm and sure and certain.

"Let's go to Greece," he says, coming up for air. "And we'll get married in a couple of months, back in Manhattan. I'm sure that hot-as-all-hell World Wide News reporters get the weekend off?"

She kisses him back, her eyes closing, and she's sure and safe and wanted, and he's strong and ridiculous and she loves him so much that she's full up with the feeling. Whatever happens next, whatever happens now, the only thing she's sure about is that it will be a legendary adventure.

And she smiles into his mouth and grins and says "I do."


End file.
